Various types of information-processing systems using information processors have been developed in association with recent widespread use and greater sophistication of information processors such as personal computers and the like. There has been provided a system for performing a so-called batch process, as one of those information-processing systems.
The batch process is generally such a processing model that creates desired output data by automatically sequentially processing input data defined as a source, on the condition that a series of procedural steps is preliminarily designed for operation composed of one or more processes, and is effective in collecting and processing a large amount of data, in such cases as performing tabulation processes on sales data at companies, for example. One or more processes are required to execute this batch process, in which each process is executed in accordance with input information, processing operation contents, and output information described in a program for carrying out each process. To construct the information-processing system for performing the batch process, therefore, the input and output data in each process are specified in their formats or the like to design the processing operation contents between the input and output data on the condition that a process flow is designed with consideration to the interrelationship between respective processes. In order to construct the information-processing system for performing the batch process a program is to be developed that achieves the function of actualizing the processing operation contents.
There has been provided the information-processing system for performing the aforementioned batch process, which automatically creates a program for executing a predetermined processing operation using a so-called Structured Query Language (SQL) or the like on the condition that the process flow is designed to specify the input and output data of each process.
There has also been provided the information-processing system, which creates a program for wider variety of uses by inputting external parameters as constant information to be included in a part of the program in order to construct a process for a wide variety of applications.
Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-60150), Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H11-175327), and the like are instantiated as specific examples of the information-processing system.
In addition, there have been such cases in which using the aforementioned conventional information-processing system for executing the predetermined processing operation has resulted in the inability to create a program for fulfilling the function of the processing operation contents due to limitation of the processing operation contents executed by the single process. The conventional information-processing system as described above may occasionally require the processing operation be performed through many processes so as to fulfill the function for executing the processing operation contents, whereby intermediate data transferred in the single process or between the processes increase in this case, thereby leading to problems such as an increase of development cost, system risk after development, and processing time. Therefore, the fact is that the conventional information-processing system necessitates development of a program specialized for individual applications.
The external parameter is individually assigned to each single process in the aforementioned conventional information-processing system in which the external parameters are input as constant information to be included in a part of the program. Thus, in the case of a change of data items, processing operation contents, and the like in this type of conventional information-processing system, the changes are not transmitted to all of the related processes, thereby not automatically changing all of the output data.
As described above, the conventional information-processing system requires development of a program specialized for individual applications, and all of the output data are not automatically changed according to change of the data item, the processing operation contents, and the like.
Furthermore, such problems as described below have arisen in performing the batch process as the information-processing system becomes bloated in scale and complicated in an information society over recent years.
The first problem is that an appropriate design principle for a process flow is not formulated to lead the process flow and the output and input data to become larger and more complicated, in other words, to lead to process and data jumbles.
The second problem is that an information processor is required, which has a large capacity and high speed, to use a method for intermediately creating direct product data.
Furthermore, the third problem is that a large number of similar items and synonymous items occur in association with the increase of the data items to be handled, thereby making it difficult to make a determination as to which data to use for which processes.
Yet further, the fourth problem is that these factors result in a remarkable increase of the burden on a system designer, a system administrator, and an operator operating the system, at the time when the program is increased or changed.
In performing the batch process, there has been apprehension that these problems are responsible for a noticeable increase in the development and maintenance costs as well as degradation of quality.